Celebrity News

Scientists say a bid to encourage giant pandas to breed by showing them 'panda porn' has paid off.

They claim to have sparked a baby boom among the endangered animals by showing them DVDs of pandas mating.

"It works," Zhang Zhihe, a leading Chinese expert, told the Xinhua news agency.

Pandas are notoriously poor breeders and the 'panda porn' movies were just one of many techniques used to encourage them to breed.

In the first 10 months of this year 31 cubs were born in captivity in China and 28 survived, said Zhang.

That's an increase from 12 births in 2005 and just nine in 2000. Of this year's births, 14 came through natural breeding, while artificial insemination or a combination of the two produced the rest.

Now comes the next test - getting the trick to work outside China.

The day of reckoning will come in January, when Prasertsak Buntragulpoontawee hopes male Chuang Chuang and partner Lin Hui will mate in Thailand.

"It is the same idea as chimpanzees seeing people smoke and then copying it," says the Thai researcher.

Naziya Alvi, HTTabloid
New Delhi, November 24, 2006

Passengers at the Indira Gandhi International Airport were shocked to see a pornographic film air on a television set there, the vice-president of a video channel and a cable TV operator were formally charged on Thursday in the case.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kamini Lau framed charges against Col. Shukla (retd), the vicepresident of Trinity Channel which allegedly aired the film, and the cable operator who allegedly beamed the channel for the January 7, 2005, incident.

“There is no reason why the vicepresident of Trinity Channel, who as per record was prima facie aware of the nonsense being run on his channel, should be discharged. More so when the material on record prima facie shows this was done only with an intent to increase viewership,” said Lau.

Aired at 12.30 a.m. on a TV set at Terminal–II of the airport, the film ran for 15-20 minutes and displayed the logo ‘Trinity Channel’, according to witnesses. The airport manager on duty captured the offensive film on CCTV cameras and immediately filed an FIR against the channel for showing a pornographic film.

Section 292 of the Indian Penal Code says publicly exhibiting or circulating obscene material in the form of printed material, clippings or films is illegal.

The police claimed that the channel, shut down soon after the incident, would air pornographic stuff between regular shows to boost falling TRP.

However, Puneet Mittal, counsel of Col. Shukla (retd), said that the material on record does not prove anything against the accused. “There is no evidence on record to prove that anything obscene was being shown on the channel. If, however, anything obscene was shown, there is nothing that proves that my client knew about it,” Mittal said.

As per the prosecution case, H. Maji, manager (electronics), Airport Authority of India, lodged a complaint, saying that some obscene movie was being shown on Trinity Channel at Terminal–II of the airport.

Vikram Singh, airport manager on duty, captured the film on CCTV cameras.

Xinhua, Taiyuan (China) | HTTabloid
November 23, 2006

China's largest pornographic website creator was sentenced to life imprisonment by the People's Court. Taiyuan Intermediate People's Court handed down the sentence to Chen Hui and ordered him to pay 100,000 yuan (about $12,500). Chen's other eight accomplices of the website were jailed for terms ranging from 13 months to ten years. The nine were convicted of profiting from pornographic dissemination.

The website contained more than nine million pornographic images and articles and it had received more than 11 million hits. Chen and his accomplices started the Qingseliuyuetian (pornographic summer) website in 2004 and opened three other porn websites, attracting more than 600,000 users.

A police source said it was difficult to know the profits made by them because most of the money was spent or saved in foreign bank accounts. The police found about 200,000 yuan ($25,000) in their Chinese bank accounts.

Commercial space on the website sold for 1,000 to 3,000 yuan (about $125 to $375) per month.